China jails Japanese aid worker

China has jailed a Japanese aid worker for trying to smuggle two North Korean refugees out of the country.

Takayuki Noguchi, 32, was sentenced to eight months in prison and fined 20,000 Yuan ($2,400) for human trafficking.

He was arrested on 10 December with a North Korean couple who had crossed into China and travelled to its southern province of Guangxi.

His case caused concern in Japan, and criticism from rights groups of China's handling of North Korean refugees.

A court spokesman said the aid worker could be released in August since he has already been in detention for six months.

He is then likely to be deported to Japan.

The two North Koreans he was helping were both born in Japan but are believed to have returned to North Korea in the 1960s.

Their whereabouts are no longer known, although China usually repatriates people found to have fled North Korea, a close ally.

Between 100,000 and 300,000 North Korean refugees are thought to have fled to China in recent years.

Some have sought asylum in foreign embassies, but most have been trying to make a living in north-east China.